624 Be bold and aggressive
Generally speaking, the distribution models of art films and commercial films are completely different. The reason is very simple. The audience groups and market potential targeted by the two films are different, and the audiences’ expectations for the works are also different..
Imagine that "Blue Valentine" is like "Pirates of the Caribbean 4", which was screened in 4,000 theaters in the first week, but ordinary audiences did not buy it at all, and there was a lot of cheating; while art audiences refused to enter commercial theaters. Watch, the word-of-mouth cannot spread at all, and the final outcome is a disastrous failure. The distribution fees and theater dividends required for screening in 4,000 theaters are enough to cause the distribution company to suffer internal losses..
Art films always follow a certain distribution model. First, they are screened in a few art theaters to see the reputation of the film critics and the audience; then, they are gradually expanded to further test the market response. If the response is mediocre, then Shrink as soon as possible, change the strategy, focus on the communication of niche groups, and operate in an awards season manner. If the response is good, then further expand and develop in the direction of fame and fortune. The college's public relations strategy also needs to be adjusted accordingly..
Therefore, some works are always shown in less than 500 theaters from release to release; while some works seem to be released in more than 500 theaters one week and 2,500 theaters the next week. is released. The seemingly careless screening mode is actually all about strategy. The same is true for last year's "Buried Alive".
Don’t underestimate this expansion process. It has a set of processes and models. It requires accurate judgment of the direction and trends of the entire market, strong adaptability to emergencies, and the most important thing is the box office potential of the work. It has strong foresight ability and market positioning, which is also a reflection of the ability of an issuing company..
Almost every year, several works appear, but due to mistakes in their expansion strategies and unsatisfactory results, they eventually withdraw from the competition during the awards season..
In Hollywood, Weinstein Pictures, Focus Features and Fox Searchlight are undoubtedly the masters with a keen sense of smell; in comparison, Warner Bros., Paramount Classics and other independent distribution companies are always making mistakes, big and small. , expansion errors are common, and this is directly reflected in the nomination lists for the Oscars and Golden Globe Awards..
But now, "Crazy Love" has only been screened for one week, and will it go directly to the public screening in the second week? And there are still 2,337 theaters? Is Focus Features really crazy?？
Although, at the Toronto Film Festival, many media compared "Crazy" with Ryan Gosling's famous work "The Notebook". The reason is very simple. Ryan and Renly are best friends. , and "The Notebook" is the romantic drama movie with the best box office performance in the new century. Naturally, the good media connected it simply and crudely..
But in fact, everyone knows that "Crazy Love" is not "The Notebook", but "Blue Valentine's Day". The difference is that "The Notebook" is a commercial movie, while "Blue Valentine's Day" is an art movie , the box office numbers and later video rental numbers clearly reflected this.
Now, Focus Features is treating "Blue Valentine" as "The Notebook" to operate and distribute it. If this is not crazy, there is no other explanation..
This is not alarmism, but a lesson learned. In 2005, "Memoirs of a Geisha" was a bloody lesson.
At that time, this movie cost 85 million US dollars and was jointly produced by Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks, bringing together countless elites from China, Japan, and the United States..
At that time, with works such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Hero", and "House of Flying Daggers", Zhang Ziyi, who was very popular in Hollywood, served as the heroine. She was Zicheng Long, Li An After that, she was the first Chinese actress to truly become famous in North America. Her resources at that time were absolutely top-notch and she had the potential to become a first-line actor. She signed a contract with the innovative artist management company - He Renshi She came from the same school, and the work "Memoirs of a Geisha" was specially created for her by the Innovative Artist Agency..
“After "Memoirs of an Actor" landed at the Toronto Film Festival, it received rave reviews. The Hollywood Reporter, "Hollywood Weekly", "Vanity Fair" and other media all rushed to pursue it, believing that this work is expected to compete for the best picture Oscar that year. This also inflated the confidence of Sony Columbia Pictures, and subsequently launched a series of promotions.
In December, the film was officially screened in North America in eight theaters, creating an astonishing record of $85,000 per theater, even comparable to "Brokeback Mountain" released in the same year, arousing cheers. But it made What's disappointing is that after the official screening, the media review plummeted, and it only got a score of 53 points, which is really hard to say outstanding. For awards season works, the competitiveness has suddenly weakened..
However, awards season is never that simple. High media reviews do not mean winning awards. "Boyhood" received a perfect score of 100 from the media reviews, but it lost to "Birdman" at the Oscars; media reviews Low does not mean out. The overall media rating of "Iron Lady" is 54 points. Meryl Streep successfully won the statuette for the third time..
Back then, Creative Artists Management Company was targeting the Oscar nomination for Best Actress, hoping that Zhang Zi Yi could become the first Chinese to be nominated for Best Actress in history.！
In fact, Zhang Ziyi is extremely close to this goal. She has received a series of nominations from film critics' outposts, and successfully received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series, and even won the U.S. Nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award, it is no exaggeration to say that she is only the last step away from making history..
However, it was at this last step that she fell on the threshold, and was counterattacked at the last moment by Keira Knightley with "Pride and Prejudice". The latter won the first Oscar in her career at the age of only twenty. Nominate！
Later, when people reviewed the entire award season process, it can be seen that Sony Columbia Pictures' fatal mistake in the distribution strategy became a turning point. After the outstanding performance of the screening results, Sony decided to expand the screening the next week, starting from eight theaters. Line expanded to fifty-two theaters.
This move allowed "Memoirs of a Geisha" to earn a weekend box office of 1.3 million with a single theater price of 25,000 US dollars, and the cumulative box office reached 2.3 million. The outstanding performance is amazing. Overjoyed. Later, Sony decided to go all out and skip the step-by-step expansion process, directly increasing the number of theaters from fifty-two to one thousand six hundred..
However, the performance of "Memoirs of a Geisha" was a disaster. Although it achieved a weekend box office of 6.7 million US dollars in the single week of expansion, the single-house performance has dropped to 4,300. It is difficult to satisfy people; what is worse is that ordinary audiences are disappointed after entering the cinema with full of curiosity, and art audiences are even more disappointed after watching the movie with high expectations..
It explodes in an instant and annihilates in an instant, just like fireworks, bursting out with the final splendor and brilliance, and then quickly disappearing. After that, the movie's box office went from bad to worse, and the negative impact of media reviews and audience reputation began to affect industry feedback, and then It hindered the subsequent public relations of the college and made it difficult to open up the situation..
The final result was that the powerful and ferocious momentum gradually became weaker and weaker, and even Zhang/Zi/Yi's reputation as a movie queen became lower and lower. In the end, "Pride and Prejudice" completed the counterattack in the sprint stage, and missed the chance to make history..
If it can be said that the media reputation of "Memoirs of a Geisha" has more or less affected the expansion effect, but in the past ten years, the media reviews and the Rotten Tomatoes Index have performed extremely well, and even the IMDB score and Popcorn Index have been extremely good. All have received positive reviews, but after the expansion, the box office results are still unsatisfactory. This situation is not uncommon..
The integration of art films and the vast film market cannot be accomplished simply by relying on a few figures. Otherwise, marketing will not become an enduring knowledge..
Now, "Crazy in Love" seems to have embarked on a path of arrogance and blind advancement. It is very likely to follow the footsteps of "Memoirs of a Geisha". But the problem is that the "Memoirs of a Geisha" back then "At least it has been very popular for a while, but "Crazy Love" has just risen. The Toronto Film Festival has just ended, and there is no time to spread the momentum; and now there are still four months before the Oscars, and there are ten choices. He made a bold leap forward in the month, what on earth is going on?？
Is there any better answer other than losing my mind?？
However, Focus Pictures is not Sony Columbia. Over the years, Focus Pictures has been able to compete with Weinstein Pictures and Fox Searchlight. Their public relations department, distribution strategy, and publicity plan can be said to be the best among the best. Focus Movie studios make mistakes too, but one so obvious, so stupid, so low-level delusional? That's almost impossible.
The only explanation is... Focus Features has changed its positioning of "Crazy". It is not an awards season art film, but an awards season-style commercial film, just like last year's "Weakness" and 2007's "Juno" ", "Little Miss Sunshine" in 2006, and "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005. What these works have in common is that：
The awards season has distinct attributes, but at the same time it has an attribute that is close to the people. It is not like "Blue Valentine" or "The Hurt Locker" that kept ordinary audiences away with its clear-cut artistry. In the end, these works achieved excellent box office results in North America. With good results, it can often achieve box office figures of 60 million or more, and it is common to exceed 100 million..
This seems to be the best explanation. At least, this answer is much more reliable than "water in the head". But, can "Crazy in Love" really shoulder such expectations? Or, can Renly Hall really continue his box office appeal? In other words, did Focus Features really make no mistakes in judgment?？
In the second week of October, "Crazy Love" was screened in 2,337 theaters. It finally turned in the box office, with a box office of 8,100 US dollars per theater, and a total of 1,890 US dollars in the three days of the weekend. Ten thousand U.S. dollars. After adjusting the data, the exact number just exceeded the round number and reached 19 million U.S. dollars.！
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